Thomas Willemze – författare

The Scandinavian Defence is one of the most popular chess openings among amateur players, and it is easy to see why. Black players immediately limit the opening theory they have to know because there is no way White can side-step Black’s first move. What’s more, the Scandinavian requires only very little theoretical knowledge, so it has an extremely low maintenance factor. To cap it all, Black gets a solid structure.

And that’s not even the end of the good news, as Thomas Willemze demonstrates. Playing the Scandinavian teaches invaluable techniques that you can use in almost all of your other games. Pressuring the centre, improving your piece coordination, trading the right pieces and exploiting your opponent’s weak points are all typical ‘Scandinavian’ spin-offs that Thomas Willemze teaches you in his trademark lucid style.

This book presents everything you need to know to be fully prepared to meet 1.e4. Willemze not just uses examples from the games of elite grandmasters. As an experienced trainer he knows that discussing club player’s adventures are particularly instructive for his target group.

At the same time, you should learn from the best by studying the games of the world's strongest players and gradually build their techniques into your play. This book offers you 100 strategic exercises from the games of the best of the best, the World Champions from Bobby Fischer to Ding Liren.

You will learn foundational techniques such as: how to improve your worst-placed piece; how to exploit a lead in development; or make the right piece trade; and how to create a strong square; plus numerous others.

Solving these exercises will help every ambitious club player better understand how to make and execute plans.

Once you master the basics, the real fun begins: recognising advanced tactical patterns that decide games. For club players, success is no longer just about spotting a simple fork or checkmate; it's about combining motifs, exploiting weaknesses and calculating more deeply.

In 1001 Chess Endgame Exercises for Club Players, International Master Thomas Willemze takes you beyond the fundamentals. He presents a wealth of challenging exercises that will sharpen your ability to recognise complex tactical resources in practical endgames. With most of the pieces off the board, endgame tactics offer the clarity to help you focus on what's important, free from the distractions of a few random pawns and pieces.

This book is not just about calculation. It's about developing the pattern recognition and intuition that enable club players to make confident decisions under pressure. Willemze’s clear explanations and his trademark step-by-step approach help you to build the tactical sharpness and practical endgame skills needed to compete successfully in club and tournament games.